Grown
by petals-to-fish
Summary: Lily loves herbology. James thinks she's barmy, but he falls in love with her anyways.


**I couldn't sleep and I had my phone all the way charged so I wrote you guys a one shot about herbology nerd!Lily falling for jock!James.**

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Lily Evans was a dreamer.

Growing up, there was a bench in the Evans' family garden. Lily spent a lot of her childhood years on that bench, thinking up marvelous stories to pass the time as her mother tended to the garden. That old bench had seen everything from Lily's sister Petunia losing her first tooth, to Lily being accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Lily was the first witch of her family, and her parents were so proud. Her sister wasn't as impressed but Petunia cared more for nice dresses and sheer cut flowers. Lily cared more for dirty knees and hand picked flowers.

When Lily started at Hogwarts, the first thing she noticed were the greenhouses. Her mother had taken her to enough garden shows that was was excited to see what lay inside. By her first week, Lily loved Herbology and seemed to be the only one in her house who did.

A lot of the students complained about the class, but no one complained more than James Potter. He didn't like Herbology and made that very clear each time he was in the greenhouses.

"Why do they make us take a class on plants?" James bemoaned to his best friend across the table from Lily as they sorted through oleander, "anyone can garden, this is so boring."

He was the only thorn in Lily's rose garden. He complained every single class without fail. Lily grew to hate having Herbology with him. James didn't seem to notice or care, too caught up in his own interests, namely, Quidditch.

Lily didn't understand how James couldn't appreciate Herbology as the only real hands on class that took place outside of a textbook. Ironically, even with her passion for gardening, Lily's best subject was charms. All her professors commended her on her magical talent, but Lily brushed the compliments aside.

"I love Herbology!" She'd tell them.

"You can't make a career out of that." was always their amused reply.

Lily hoped they were wrong. She loved planting and potting and pulling up weeds. She loved digging her fingers into cool, rich soil as snow fell outside the greenhouse glass walls. She loved the smell of dragon mulch, but hated the way it stained her palms for days. At home, Lily could spend hours out in the fields and the moors exploring all manner of plant life. Hogwarts was teeming with magical plants and fungi too, some of which Lily had never seen before.

Coming to Hogwarts and finding out there were species of plants muggles didn't even know about?

That was magic in itself.

Lily wrote her mother about every new plant she saw, going so far as to draw examples. She started making a guide just to keep track of all the wonderful species.

Lily got her love for gardening from her mother. She'd spent plenty of long days helping to keep the Evans' small garden alive. Ever since she could walk, she'd known how to use a hand-shovel. Lily's mother had a green thumb, and she passed on that innate magic to Lily, claiming Lily had a gift with plants.

Whenever Lily went home for summer holiday, the thing she most looked forward to was tending to the garden. She had fond memories of sitting on the old Evans family bench and drinking lemonade from a straw as she studied her plant knowledge.

Every single plant on earth grew to serve some sort of purpose. Some plants healed, some plants fed the hungry and some plants were used as biological weapons. Lily's goal in life was to use every plant she knew to help people, be it muggle or wizard. She was often met with resistance for her open minded ideals but Lily didn't care. She wanted to change the world, one plant at a time.

Lily studied her plants, charms, and potions religiously when she was at Hogwarts. In the summers, Lily spent time in the muggle library, picking her way through pharmaceutical books and herbal remedies. She reveled in finding a connection between the muggle world and wizard world through her obsession with gardening.

Lily was always being encouraged by other professors to make charms her main study. While charms was fun, and Lily hardly ever had to even practice it, she wasn't as passionate about the class. Instead, every night she would find herself back in the glass greenhouses outside the castle. Lily's mother said it was because Lily was gifted and shouldn't ignore the call in her heart.

Lily had to agree with her mother, the greenhouses were as fascinating as her garden back home. Lily loved exploring every shelf and every pot within all the nooks and crannies. The Herbology teacher, Professor Sprout, eventually started leaving the greenhouses open for Lily. They'd chat while Professor Sprout graded papers and Lily dissected a mandrake flower or examined the petals of the mysterious dragon poppy.

Lily started her own garden in the back of greenhouse three as a project in her second year. Professor Sprout encouraged Lily's fascination by offering new and fun things for Lily to try and grow. Many of the other teachers were disappointed Lily didn't choose their subjects to focus on but anyone with eyes could see Lily was her happiest when she was immersed in nature.

By fourth year, Lily's school garden had spread to the outside of greenhouse three. Pots of various shapes and sizes held cross pollinations that Lily was experimental with. Vines of rainbow trumpet flowers grew up the glass exterior of the greenhouse. The vines were shading small groves of poppy, lavender, and dogwood. Toadstool mixed into the soil provided an excellent habitat for all sorts of herbal delicacies.

The garden was Lily's pride and joy, everyone knew it. Sometimes Lily's friends even came out to the greenhouses to help Lily. That formed a small Herbology club and Lily ran it with Professor Sprout as a mentor.

Still, most days, Lily was by herself.

One sunny September morning in Lily's fifth year, she was working on digging out the dead flowers that had died over summer break. She was so caught up in her task, humming to herself quietly, that it took Lily a moment to realize the sun had been blocked out by a tall shadow.

Lily turned a bit and looked up. James Potter was smiling down at her. He wore his Quidditch robes and had a broomstick slung over his shoulder. She noted he'd grown at least another inch over the summer and somehow gotten more attractive with freckles and dimples glowing on his dark skin.

"Alright Evans?" He asked s

"Hi Potter." She replied politely, "have a good summer?"

James modded before gesturing to her dead plants, "what happened to your garden?"

"Well, contrary to popular belief," Lily pushed her auburn hair from her eyes as she replied, "Plants don't do well if there's no one around to water them."

"So you have to regrow it all?" His brow furrowed, as if regrowing the garden seemed outrageous.

"Yes," she said, "But I can't start until spring. I'm just removing the dead stuff."

"Spring?" James ruffled his jet black hair, "but that's so far away!"

"Patience is a virtue."

"Can't you plant it now?" He asked, "so you don't have to wait?"

Lily arched a brow at his concern, "well, I don't think anything will grow out here. When we get the first snowfall, especially."

"I guess you're right." He shrugged, "but what will you do for fun if your garden is dead?"

"I still have to turn the soil and remove the dead leaves. I have my garden inside as well." Lily pointed at the greenhouse door, "why do you care?"

Hazel eyes met green and she saw a slight flash of red reach his ears. James wrinkled his nose, as if he were unsure of what to say. Lily waited patiently.

"I just know how much you like it." He finally shrugged, "I'd hate if I couldn't fly year round."

Lily offered him a short, "thanks but it's not the end of the world, I promise."

"Let me know if I can help."

He waved and walked away, back to the castle for dinner probably. Lily watched him go, a curious smile plastered on her face. When she went back to digging up old roots, she tried to think of something other than how nice James had been about her garden.

She didn't think she'd ever hear him say anything remotely kind about Herbology.

Of course, time can change a great many things. It can turn a seed into a sapling, or a caterpillar into a butterfly. Time can stop or slow down whenever it wants, aiding in the growth and death of all plants and animals.

As the gardens that Lily tended grew, so did her feelings surrounding James. He stopped by the greenhouse almost everyday, offering her either a quick hello or asking about one of the plants she was tending too.

"I thought you said Herbology was boring?" She teased him one dreary February afternoon as a rainstorm hailed into the glass walls of the greenhouse.

James simply shrugged, offering her a sheepish grin as he played with a bowtruckle Lily had found, "you make it less boring."

Lily would never say it out loud but, James had added a bit more laughter into her daily routine. She grew to enjoy his company more and more over the next few months. He had a funny way of seeing the world, almost poetic. He spoke to her with big words and an even bigger bravado.

On James' birthday that year, Lily gave him a card with hand drawn flowers all over it, namely her namesake surrounded by thorny roses. He was flabbergasted by her artistry and she soon learned that he also liked to draw for fun. Suddenly, the afternoons normally spent together in the greenhouse talking become whole days spent wandering the school with their sketch books.

Lily loved to draw the trees. James had a fascination for drawing animals but when he couldn't find an owl or a cat...he settled for Lily. She never asked to see his drawings, but she caught glimpses of whisps of hair in front of eyes and a clever smile.

James always joked he was turning her into a character for one of his cartoons. He liked drawing cartoons the most and told Lily about his dreams to publish them one day. Lily read all his comics, every single one, and she loved all of them.

He's turned into one of her best friends.

By the time the school year is up, James is helping Lily in the greenhouses whenever he has a spare moment. His hands dig into the soil beside her comfortably, and they're always laughing together. Lily just has to look at James and she can already hear the echo of his laugh inside her head.

Summertime Lily runs barefoot in the garden back home in Cokesworth. It's refreshing to feel the dirt between her toes. Lily's skirt blew in the wind, catching at her knees as she used a pair of kitchen sheers to cut some fresh roses from beside the old Evans' bench. Lily was happy to be home, as she missed the quiet unaccompanied by student chatter.

There're sunflower seeds in Lily's pocket, ready to be planted for a early fall harvest. She plopped the seeds into the soil one-by-one, the sun burning into her neck. Dressed in a hand-me-down sundress, without a care in the world, knees digging into the dirt...Lily felt right at home.

"When you said you had a garden at home, I didn't know you meant your entire yard."

Lily looked up from her task and spotted James leaning against the waist high white picket fence that her father had hand built for her mother. James' skin was darker than usual, hiding the line of freckles that normally dotted his tan face in the winter. His hazel eyes were mischievous, soaking the sight of Lily planting flowers in a bright blue sundress.

Lily started back at James. She liked the way James' curls fell to one side of his face, as if he'd tried to tame them today.

"What are you doing in Cokesworth?" She asked excitedly, standing up and tucking the last of the sunflower seeds back into her dress pockets.

"You said in your last letter that I ought to come by and see your muggle garden." James chirped, still leaning casually on the fence, "so I here I am."

Lily laughed, wiping her dirt covered hands on the sides of her sundress, dirtying it more. She precariously stepped around all her plants to stand on the opposite side of the fence, her smile golden like the summer sunshine.

"Is it everything you dreamed it'd be?" She flirted shamelessly, her hands coming to rest just by his on the white fence.

James wasn't looking at the garden as he hummed, "yes."

Lily didn't mind at all when he reached up to brush a smidgeon of dirt from her cheek with his thumb.

She let him into the garden with half a warning not to step on any freshly turned soil. James explored the tiny plots, naming some of the plants by name and being stumped by others. Lily watched him as she finished her work, the smile on her lips never waning.

He came back to Lily's flat almost everyday after. Lily's mum meets him the third time, and James promptly becomes the number one topic at Evans' family meals. He won Lily's mum over the second he complimented her rose bushes. Lily just rolled her eyes and called him a suck up but she was secretly pleased her parents approved of the handsome wizard.

As Lily's sunflowers grew taller and summer days began shortening, James' visits grew longer.

They talked about everything from school to home to what they thought life would be like after Hogwarts. James thought her idea to work in Herbology was genius and suggested she apply for an internship at the Ministry.

Even when they didn't talk, it was fine. Sometimes James brought his sketchbook and he'd sit on the small bench in the Evans' small garden. The bird feeder provided James birds to sketch while Lily worked on tending to her plants.

One day, in mid August, James started sketching Lily as she dug up old roots along the fence line. She was laughing, telling him a story, when she noticed his eyes were tracing every line in her face every time he looked up from his parchment. It was like he was trying to take in every detail, as if Lily was as fleeting as the birds who flew on and off of the bird feeder.

She stopped laughing and he stopped sketching. Suddenly, as if deciding there was no better time, James dropped his sketchbook. Lily watched as he came to where she was kneeling in the dirt. Her fingers and nails were black from the soil but he'd long since grown used to her lack of cleanliness in the garden. Lily's heart pounded in her chest as he kneeled next to her, his knees bumping hers.

"What?" She asked breathlessly when he just continued to stare.

"I'm convinced you're a reincarnation of Demeter." He murmured, the back of one of his hands running across her cheek lightly.

"Who?"

"Demeter was the witch who founded Herbology." James said, as if it were obvious.

Lily's worst subject was History of Magic but James was a wiz at it, "when did we learn about Demeter?"

"Third year." He reminded her, "remember, we were comparing muggle myths to magical beings?"

"Right." Lily smacked her forehead, "totally forgot."

James chuckled and grabbed her hand, "how could you forget the one witch who is literally the founder of your biggest hobby?"

"I can tell you all the scientific names of all these plants." Lily said, "but don't ask me to remember the name of a witch who died eight thousand years ago."

James just laughed, throwing his head back like a little kid. When he stopped, his thumb was rubbing her palm affectionately.

"Lily," he asked sincerely, "do you know why I come out here everyday?"

She joked, "Because you love Herbology?"

Lily's eyes were trapped on his clean hands wound up in her dirty ones.

"No," he sounded amused by her jest, "I come out here everyday because I like spending time with you, even when all you're doing is trying to grow sunflowers and talk my ear off about the properties of toadstool for the six hundredth time."

"I'm sensing some sarcasm."

"Maybe a little bit." He agreed, his smile was wide and almost blinding, "I did always find Herbology rather boring...that is...I did until I got to know you."

James reached up with one hand and tucked her long, red hair behind her ear. His fingertips slid into place on her neck, drawing Lily closer. His hazel eyes searched hers for a moment, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

"I don't see how you don't find this all fascinating." She was always teasing him, trying to get him to laugh, "just think about all the ways you can collect and use toadstool!"

James sighed dramatically, "I never thought I'd ever know about the fifty-two properties of toadstool, Lily Evans."

"I changed your mind?"

James replies with a roll of his eyes, "I watched your eyes light up when you explained it to me over dinner and here I am, three years later, knowing all fifty-two properties by heart."

Lily felt like her heart was swelling double it's normal size, "I'm so proud of your right now, I could kiss you."

James chuckled and leaned closer, "do I need to tell you the fifty-two properties of toad stool to make that actually happen?"

Lily shook her head very quickly and that's when James finally leaned in to capture her lower lip with his mouth. She leaned into his touch, the subtle pressure on her neck from his fingers encouraging her to get closer. Lily's one hand stayed trapped between James' fingers but her other hand cupped his face contentedly as they kissed under the hot June sun.

When Lily pulled away from him, she had to laugh, because her hands had sufficiently covered James in dark smudges of soil from the garden. James laughed too, when she brought him into the Evans' loo to show him, his reflection in the mirror. With her parents and sister gone on a trip to London, Lily spent the rest of the afternoon out of the garden and in James' firm embrace instead.

Lily fell in love with James slowly, finally realizing it sometime after her seventeenth birthday. She really hadn't thought about it much, the way she felt, the feelings just hit her one day when James was helping her prune a butterfly bush.

He hadn't been doing anything over the top or even talking to her. She'd just glanced over to him, watched the way his hands gently and carefully used the sheers to shape the plant just as Lily had taught him, and then she was in love.

She supposed love had been growing between the whole time. First, planted as a seed when they met, and then, the feeling grew. It was like a vine, twisting and curling and curving through every part of her body. Lily could see it in her minds eye, the love growing with each passing second she remained in James' presence. It looped between them, like the branches of a tree.

By the time they graduated that Spring, what was once a simple tree, had now turned into a forest of feelings.

She didn't know how to describe it, only that when she looked at James she felt like she was standing in a field covered in wildflowers that bloomed different colors for every emotion. Red flowers for passion. Purple flowers for laughter. Dark pink when he was kissing her and light pink when he was touching her. The colors in her mind were always shifting, creating a rainbow inside her head that she tried to replicate in her gardens.

Lily began working for the Ministry in their Herbology department while James took up drawing political comics for the newspapers. They were forced to live in the city, leaving no option but for Lily to give up her small garden in Cokesworth. She kept a few small plants in their flat, the green giving her a sense of home. Still, James could see how much it killed Lily to not have her own garden that she could work in on the weekends.

He surprised her around Christmas with keys to the old Potter family cottage in Godric's Hollow. The house was far away from the city but James convinced Lily to move, promising her that country life was more suitable for them both. Lily couldn't argue when she saw the cottage. Even trapped amongst overgrown vines and way too many dead leaves, the property held the aesthetic of an old English charmer that Lily had always dreamed of living in.

"This is much smaller than the house I went to before your parents passed away." Lily told James as she peered through dusty windows to see inside.

James said fondly of his late parents, "this was their favorite home. It was just so small and old, only two bedrooms. Dad was getting to sick to fix it up."

Lily loved that James wanted to share his family heirloom and old childhood home with her. They moved in quickly and soon, fixing the house became a full time project. When James wasn't busy working on comics, he started redoing the floors in the sitting room and kitchen.

The outside of the house hadn't been touched in over ten years, but Lily got right to work in the gardens out front, not wasting a second at the chance to turn the old cottage flower beds into her dream garden.

"We'll put marigold and roses by the door." She pointed out every detail to James, eager for his approval, "and I can take down the old lattice and dead vines so the stone portions of the house will be gorgeous come springtime."

James just kissed her forehead and said, "whatever makes you happy, love."

They were married in the Spring, with flowers haphazardly crowned on Lily's head as they both danced under the pale moonlight. Lily's dress was lace that mimicked the flowers in her hair and James' fingertips slid over the sleeves as they received well wishes from neighbor and friend alike.

Married life was perfect. Lily quit her job at the Ministry a few months after they were married, preferring to stay at home in her precious English cottage with her doting husband who laughed at her as she slaved away in her gardens. James liked to bring her out homemade lemon treats in July and they'd sit on the front of the house, just enjoying time together.

The garden was fantastic. The neighbors always praised Lily for her work and that summer, Lily was the happiest she'd ever been. James had a lot to do with that, keeping her preoccupied in and out of the garden.

Lily harvested pumpkins in the fall and have one to each of her neighbors. The air was getting cooler but Lily didn't mind too much, she enjoyed watching the leaves turn gold and red. Of course, James would often lure her back inside with searing kisses and hot chocolate but Lily always found herself back in the garden eventually. She was trying to get everything ready for the first freeze and James was trying desperately to get her to stay in bed past eight in the morning.

The first snowfall happened on the same morning that Lily found out she was definitely pregnant. They celebrated with a snowball fight near the frozen rose bushes that ended quickly in favor of snuggling in front of the fireplace all day. They spent most of the winter enjoying time alone together, while they still could.

By the time Spring came, Lily was as rotund as her fall pumpkins. James had to help her do most of her spring gardening, as bending over became increasingly difficult. The garden was twice as big as the year before and James had a bench made, like the one in Lily's childhood garden, to commemorate their last year of hard work.

James nestled the bench carefully between the rose bushes that were planted in honor of Lily's mother. Lily cried the whole time he was fitting it in and then cried again when he helped her sit down on it.

The bees buzzed from flower to flower as James sat down next to Lily and tossed one hand over her shoulder, placing his other hand on her belly. She covered his hands with her own, leaning into his side and placing her head on his shoulder.

"I love you," James said, kissing her temple, "but you have that crazy look in eyes."

Lily grinned over at him, positively glowing, "we can teach our babies to garden right here."

"Or Quidditch." James suggested offhandedly.

Lily laughed and pinched his hand, "not in my garden, you won't."

"We'll be careful."

"They'll have your genes, careful isn't in your vocabulary."

"Fine no Quidditch," he reasoned, "but I can teach them to fly."

"I'd like that." Lily hummed appreciatively when James pressed another kiss to her temple.

Over looking her garden, with the spring flowers blooming, Lily felt at peace. She dreamed about planting petunias and daffodils with her daughter or her son next spring. As the kids got older, James would teach them to fly. Maybe, just maybe, the first Hogwarts letter would be opened on their garden bench. Lily had so many hopes and dreams for the future, she couldn't contain her excitement as they sat in the middle of their garden.

Just like they'd worked together to grow the garden and fix the house, they'd both teach their babies to dream.

Dreams were a good place to start.

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**Have a good day/night depending where you live**

**xxx**

**Petals**


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